The average liter of bottled water has nearly a quarter million invisible pieces of ever so tiny nanoplastics, detected and categorized for the first time by a microscope using dual lasers.
Scientists long figured there were lots of these microscopic plastic pieces, but until researchers at Columbia and Rutgers universities did their calculations they never knew how many or what kind. Looking at five samples each of three common bottled water brands, researchers found particle levels ranged from 110,000 to 400,000 per liter, averaging at around 240,000 according to a study in Monday’s Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
These are particles that are less than a micron in size. There are 25,400 microns — also called micrometers because it is a millionth of a meter — in an inch. A human hair is about 83 microns wide.
Previous studies have looked at slightly bigger microplastics that range from the visible 5 millimeters, less than a quarter of an inch, to one micron. About 10 to 100 times more nanoplastics than microplastics were discovered in bottled water, the study found.
People downvoting you probably live somewhere with decent tapwater where a filter does the job. We recently moved somewhere with absolutely garbage tap water. It isn’t even compliant with regulations. The only way to make it taste acceptable is with a reverse osmosis system.
Unless you own your own home, you can’t typically rip out the faucet that comes with the house/apartment for one that incorporates an RO system, or drill a new hole in the sink shelf to add one in. Luckily, we were able to add RO to our kitchen sink, but I completely empathize with those who aren’t so fortunate.